Ancestor Approved Award

Imagine my surprise when late yesterday I visited my blog and discovered that I had been awarded the Ancestor Approved Award, not once but three times!

Thanks to Anne at Gene Notes, Joan at Roots 'n' Leaves & Linda at Documenting The Details for sharing this award with me!

The Ancestor Approved Award asks that the recipient list ten things you have learned about any of your ancestors that has surprised, humbled, or enlighted you and pass the award along to ten other bloggers who you feel are doing their ancestors proud. Here are the 10 things I have learned from my ancestors.

1. Never trust family lore - the death of Mabel Phillips & the circumstances surrounding her death taught me to always go the extra mile & find the original record if possible to find the answers.
2. Its okay to just leave or put somethings back in the vault at the courthouse, you don't have to tell everything you find. Especially if living persons could be hurt by your discovery. Not naming names on this one.
3. I was surprised to find that my great great grandmother, Susan "Shug" Sellars Nix was a tea leaf reader.
4. Disappointment popped up when I discovered that my ancestor LeRoy Nix was wanted for desertion of his family. Didn't help any that I discovered it on the front page of the local newspaper.
5. Finding Amish & Mennonite (Yes, I have BOTH) ancestry in my tree has encouraged me to try & be more understanding of others. I find myself asking how I think my ancestor would handle certain situations.
6. Finding the many ancestors in my family tree that served our country in military efforts of days gone by gives me new appreciation for those serving now.
7. Reading the court records from the 1700's where my female ancestor was outspoken & at one time was given "20 lashed laid hard on", has given me new perspective on how fortunate I am to live in the time in history I do. Where I can speak my mind and not fear for my own personal safety.
8. The perils of an ocean crossing that lasted weeks almost months for some would have been enough to possibly keep this girl on one side of the ocean. Don't know that I would have the courage that my ancestors had to make the voyage & start all over!
9. In the face of adversity stand firm, work together & you will get thru it, seen over & over again, thru the death of children, loss of farms & homes and more.
10. I think the biggest thing I learned was patience - not saying I have tons more than I had when I started doing genealogy 20+ years ago, but all my ancestors in some form have shown patience and taught me patience. Has to be one of the hardest lessons learned from them but also one of the most rewarding.

The award also asks that I pass the award on to ten other deserving genea bloggers who I feel have done their ancestors proud...

1. Amy over at We Tree
2. Julie at Who Will Tell Their Story
3. Katie at You Are Where You Came From
4. Greta over at Greta's Genealogy Blog
5. Jenna at Desperately Seeking Surnames

I'm sure if I tried really hard I could list the other five, but I'm stopping here... these five really have awesome blogs - and they are well worth taking time out to read! Enjoy ladies! Your ancestors are sure proud of you!

Today is Relatively Speaking over at Anne's blog - Gene Notes - Cousins That Blog - stop on over for a read...

Happy Researching!

Karen